1. Technical Field
This technology pertains generally to environmental conditioning systems and methods for buildings, and more particularly to an air distribution system that tracks room occupants and delivers a stream air to each of the tracked occupants and shuts down when the space is unoccupied. Directed airflow can substantially reduce the energy and economic costs of cooling and heating buildings and can greatly increase occupant comfort under both cooling and heating conditions.
2. Background Discussion
Building climate conditioning systems are designed to provide a comfortable environment to the occupants of the building. Air conditioning systems are generally used to control the climate within a building or on various floors of a budding by creating and distributing temperature modified air to the interior and withdrawing air from the interior for return to the air conditioning unit. Such climate control systems typically include a distribution system comprising an intricate network of ducts that transmit heated or cooled air from the conditioner to various locations within the building and then recycle the air back to the conditioner. Each room and hallway in a building may require a separate set of ducts to deliver and withdraw air, contributing considerably to the capitol and maintenance costs of the building.
In addition, the utilization of the enclosed spaces within a budding often varies with changing occupancy and time of day. Therefore, conventional systems for heating or cooling a building must be tailored to meet the conditioning requirements of each of the enclosed spaces. In some settings, suites of rooms or the entire interior space may be heated or cooled as a whole. For example, some office spaces are sectioned with movable partitions to create working spaces within a much larger space that has a common environment. The overall plan of these movable partitions can be designed and redesigned to meet the needs of the occupants.
However, the network of conventional ductwork in an interior space is typically fixed at particular locations upon the initial construction of the space. Rearrangement of the partitions and office enclosures requires reconstruction of the ductwork in order for the area enclosed by the partitions to be specifically conditioned. In the alternative, the ductwork remains fixed without regard for the design of the office partitions or enclosures. Therefore, the conventional systems for heating or cooling a building will remain tailored to meet the requirements of the entire space to be treated rather than the requirements of individual partitioned working spaces. In these settings, the number of office plans that can be used will be limited since the ductwork is fixed at specific locations.
Another problem with the ductwork of conventional systems used for heating or cooling a building is that the effective flow and temperature of conditioned air through the ductwork diminishes as the air travels away from the source. Consequently, some control over the environment of specific rooms or spaces is lost because the flow of air from each of the registers may not be uniform and variations in room temperature may result.
Many relatively small buildings such as single-family homes use a single heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) unit that is controlled by a single thermostat. Other buildings, individual floors of buildings and rooms may also use thermostats to actuate the heating or cooling systems of the building for temperature control and to monitor local environmental temperatures.
Thermostats are typically installed at a location away from windows and doors that would tend to influence the temperatures sensed by the thermostat. The heating and cooling needs of the entire structure are estimated from the needs at the location of the thermostat. The heating or cooling equipment then controls the flow of conditioned air through the entire structure according to the signal of the thermostat received from a single location.
However, the environment surrounding a single thermostat may not accurately represent the heating or cooling needs throughout the entire structure. There may be other locations in the building that have heating or cooling needs that are substantially different than exist at the location of a thermostat. For example, rooms that have a large number of windows may require a greater input of heated or cooled air to maintain a desired temperature in the room. As a consequence, the occupants of some areas of the structure or zone may not be satisfied with the temperature of these areas because it will tend to deviate from the desired temperature set at the thermostat.
In some settings, control over the temperature of different locations within a building may be desirable. For example, some rooms may be occupied by an elderly person or an infant that has special temperature needs that are different from that of the rest of the building. Similarly, the temperature of rooms that are rarely occupied may not need to be maintained at the same temperature as rooms that are frequently occupied.
Accordingly, the temperature at different floors, zones or locations within a building cannot be accurately controlled by a single thermostat. Although sophisticated computer controlled heating and cooling systems are possible, uniform temperature control within floors, zones or rooms of a building may not be comfortable to individual occupants within those areas. The perception of what is a comfortable environment is often not the same between individuals with some preferring a slightly warmer work environment and others preferring a slightly cooler environment. Therefore, there is a need for a system which offers some individual control over the movement of conditioned air in a zone or area.
Cooling or heating the air in an interior environment can be a significant source of power consumption in a building. The substantial amount of energy consumed to heat or cool unoccupied rooms or to condition large interiors or individual rooms to set temperatures presents a need for devices that minimize the use of conventional air-conditioning systems and reduces the high or low environmental temperatures needed for the comfort of the building occupants.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system that provides individualized climate control for occupants of a building room, cubicle or other area that efficiently spot conditions an occupant in an area while conserving energy by reducing air-conditioner use. The present technology satisfies these needs as well as others and is an overall advancement in the art.